Starting troops

[Bowden]

For crying out loud, why does the playing get only about zilch troops to start with while every (surrounding) AI army is fullily stacked? Any reason for this?

[Taiji]

I'd guess it's to make it harder for the player to kill off another faction early in the game.

[Galloglaich]

Yeah. And after all, its not that hard to survive against those rebels. As long as you have much cavalry, you can win and lose less than 100 men. Good luck.

[Bowden]

It isn't about the attacking rebels. I can't attack and that is what bothering me. And it seems a bit unfairish.

[dacrazymofo]

This....is....DUES LO VULT!

[Ahlerich]

This....is....DUES LO VULT!

acually its deus lo vult :-P

this is sparta!

[cvo99]

just put out towers for the rebels to camp out on until you are ready

[PrivateJoh]

In DLV, letting a bunch of rebels roam your lands in definitely a good idea. The 500 florins penalty per stack per turn you could eventually get is going to kill you, economically speaking, or make your campaign really tough.

My suggestion:

First turn, gather as many of your troops as possible, but do nothing about the rebels unless you have a fair chance of winning. Also, make sure one of your starting characters is selectable as general (put him in a castle or leave him in the wild), he will win good traits and possibly some command stars that will come in handy later on.

Second turn, gather all your remaining troops into a single stack lead by your new general, hire some mercenaries and start taking one rebel stack at a time as soon as possible. You could hire-attack-disband to save some cash, but it will probably depend on the location of the rebels.

Hopefully in the following turns you will get some military points until your stack is so depleted that there is no hope in winning over the remaining rebels. If you are lucky and your economy and building infrastructure allow, you could maintain the push until you have got rid of all of them and are ready for conquering some rebel settlements.

Good luck.

[Bowden]

Its quite rubbish that you're the only one with zilch troops. That is what my point is. Even AI factions (rebel or not) have millions.

[Ahlerich]

Its quite rubbish that you're the only one with zilch troops. That is what my point is. Even AI factions (rebel or not) have millions.

i know what you mean. but you will get used to it. in the beginning i thought the same - this is unrealistic and frustrating. on the other hand the ai really needs some advantage

[hotcobbler]

It's meant to be difficult. If you're whining now, wait until you actually get a few turns into the campaign.

Trust me, it is possible to build an army and beat the rebels back, even if you only start with one settlement. DLV is meant to be a slow build, but when you finally get your economy straight it's much more gratifying.

[Taiji]

Hi Bowden, DLV is meant to be for the experienced player, it adds a great deal of difficulty in many areas.

If you want an easier game you could try SS, it's great and no way near as challenging.

[Protector]

Hi Bowden, DLV is meant to be for the experienced player, it adds a great deal of difficulty in many areas.

If you want an easier game you could try SS, it's great and no way near as challenging.

Hi Taiji,

SS changed meanwhile a lot.

In VH/VH settings new SS 6.2 + RC4 + BYG IV is also for very experienced DLV players almost impossible to win or to survive within the first 50 years.

(btw I dont like that modders like to create more and more difficult mod versions because I believe the majority of MTW players prefer medium setting due to the fact that fun while playing is more important than always frustrating difficulties)

Cheers.

[Taiji]

Yo Protector,

I have to agree that SS+RRRC+BGRIV is challenging (though not overly) but I didn't mention minimods, SS is very easy when compared with DLV.

I have to disagree about making more difficult mods being a bad idea. I think if the difficulty is not frustrating then it's not difficult. If we only made mods for people who don't know how to play then there would be nothing for the skilled players to enjoy.

[Bowden]

Why are you (plural) thinking I'm whining? I just dont like unequality.

[Taiji]

Hey Bowden,

If you don't like inequality then unfortunately DLV is not for you.

Most of the features the player has to tackle are not an issue at all for the AI. The AI cannot deal with the detail that we've added and if it could you would be waiting for, at the very least, 30+mins for the AI turns to end. It's just not practical to make a mod which has so much detail and also make the AI subject to those details. It might even be impossible to get M2TW AI to work with so much new stuff effectively.

On the otherhand the best way to avoid inequality is to play multiplayer, the AI is never going to have an equal chance versus a human.

BTW Hotcobbler is only one person, this hardly counts as plural and he is trying to help you. He is trying to explain that if you're not up to the early stages (which you seem to be saying you're not) you will be even more frustrated as the game progresses. He's trying to save you some time and warn you that the difficulty increases as you go further.

The learning curve is steep but if you think you're tough enough to continue then go for it, forge an empire!

Good luck, Bowden

[mattgonzo]

hey man if it'S to hard...there is always the option to add some units to your starting troops.....it is easy to change it in the descr_strat file...i guess you know that...if you think the game is not equal for all factions, just do that.....

[Bowden]

Fine. There were several people implying I was whining though.

I'm fine with it for now. Í can handle it.

[Tokus*Maximus]

It is harsh and pretty unforgiving. Leaves me buckled and bent most of the time. If a full grey rebel stack is threatening a city, build a watchtower nearby as the lads say above. Work on your economy and muster all your guys. Sometimes I wait until I can also field a small horse army. When I take on that big grey stack with my green troops (and a few tough mercs) that horse army are my reinforcements. Usually, in the big battle, just as my troops are wavering, the back up support horse army comes sweeping in. A bit like the horselords of Rohan... Anyhoo, hope that helps you get past those early full rebel stacks.

Tokid

[repman]

The AI needs help against the rebels and the fort troops. Normally you should develop your kingdom the first 20-40 turns and then attack

repman